The moisture content of a bale of hay should be within a predetermined range to be acceptable as feed for livestock and for safe storage.
The present accepted method for determining moisture content of hay is to repeatedly probe a finished bale with a long pointed object having a moisture sensor at its end to provide a reading of moisture content. The probe must be inserted into the bale in different locations to get an estimate of the average moisture content of the hay in the bale. The mositure readings from different insertion points of the probe can vary substantially. This requires the farmer to estimate an average moisture content using a wide range of readings, experience, and some intuition. Additionally, to be sure the hay farmer is producing hay bales of a desired moisture content, the operator must periodically stop to obtain a series of moisture readings of recently produced bales with the sensing probe. Such testing wastes an insidious amount of time and can result in the production of a number of bales having unacceptable moisture content in the time elapsed since the last tests of the bales.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,781 to Anderson describes a moisture tester for cut hay which utilizes concentric electrodes mounted on the sidewall of a hay baler. The electrodes are stated to be positioned so that they contact the newly severed ends of the baled hay. The electrodes are connected to digital circuitry for providing a readout of moisture content. Another commercially available baler moisture sensor presently on the market utilizes spaced circular button electrodes for a similar purpose.
Actual experimentation with small circular spaced electrodes has shown that the resulting moisture readings are too susceptible to momentary changes in measured resistance. There is also substantial opportunity for lack of engagement between the cut ends of the hay pressing into the baler and the relatively small sensors. More importantly, they simply cannot contact sufficient area along the bale as it is being formed to assure consistent and continuous moisture monitoring.
Accordingly, a need remains for an improved hay baler having a moisture sensing apparatus which instantaneously indicates to the hay farmer the moisture content of hay while it is being compacted into a bale.